MICHAEL DUMAS/Press-RegisterHelene Hicks, left, of the Jackson County Spay & Neuter Program hands a flier to Missy Watts of Gautier in the Singing River Mall on Nov. 1, 2010. Hicks is trying to win a $25,000 Pepsi Refresh Project grant so she can buy a new van for her non-profit organization.

GAUTIER, Mississippi -- A large white van with a pink paw on it: The thought alone is enough to make Helene Hicks emotional.

She calls it the Pink Paw Express and, if she gets enough votes during November to win a $25,000 Pepsi Refresh Project grant, that's what she's going to have.

For last two years, Hicks has operated the Jackson County Spay & Neuter Program out of her car, transporting animals to coast veterinarians to be spayed or neutered as a way to combat inhumane treatment that she's witnessed due to overpopulation or a lack of affordable options.

The Pennsylvania native has lived on the coast since 1996, working with humane societies in Gulfport and Mobile before starting her own non-profit effort.

"I've done over 500 animals," Hicks said. "If it only takes a vote to get me $25,000, I can get my van and get what I need done."

It will obviously take more than just one vote to secure the grant, and those willing to cast theirs for the Jackson County Spay & Neuter Program can not only show their support for Hicks, they can see her day-to-day ranking in the contest, which awards 10 of the $25,000 grants in November. In July, Mobile's Bay Area Food Bank received $100,000 during a similar contest.

Hicks said that she's been trying since April to register, which requires entrants to file their information through the Pepsi website at a precise time and day at the beginning of each month. For half a year her hopes kept getting dashed, until recently when the words, "Hooray, you got in!" flashed across the screen.

"When I got in, I was in my house screaming and jumping up and down," Hicks said by phone, her voice breaking as she recounted the scene. "I'm so passionate about it, I was so shocked."

On the Pepsi Refresh website, Hicks explains what she'd do with the money, including the purchase of the Dodge van .

Hicks noted that she also transports pets that are owned by the elderly and disabled, so they won't have to deal with that themselves.

Of all the things the money will do for Hicks, she said the main thing it will buy her is efficiency, particularly when she has to travel to outlying areas to seek and capture strays and other homeless animals.

In her car, she said, she can handle only two or three animals at the most. "I could do 10 in the van," she said.

Eventually, she said, she hopes to open a stationary clinic in either Gautier or Vancleave, but she plans on applying for other grants toward that end.

For now, her sights are set on helping as many animals as she can, hitting the streets to garner votes on the Pepsi website and getting the chance to buy her Pink Paw Express.

"I want it to be different, so that when I go to people's houses in a white van with big pink paws on them, they're going to know I'm there to help them with their animals," she said.